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Master Yi
Build Guide by OnMeWujuLivesOn

This build has been archived and is for historical display only.

PLEASE NOTE: This build has been archived by the author. They are no longer supporting nor updating this build and it may have become outdated. As such, voting and commenting have been disabled and it no longer appears in regular search results.

Hello everyone! I'm InmeWujuliveson, a Master yi one trick pony. Yi is my favorite champion as you can outplay almost every ability in the game. I'm writing this guide to share my experience on Master Yi. This guide is inspired by aKa Silencee build and playstyle. This is his smurf, he went 101-0 which is an insane score. If you are interested of maining Master yi, check out r/YIMO!

+ One of the fastest jungle clear in the game+ Amazing power spike at Infinity Edge/ Zeal or at every item completed+ True damage from Wuju Style+ Counter almost every spell in the game due to Alpha Strike+ Meditate allows you to temporize during fights and reset your aa timer+ Easy to play

Cons:

- Pretty damn squishy/Can easily be shutdown by CC- Rely on your team to engage- Expensive build- Will get focused in teamfights (known to be a super high priority target)- Hard to master (Timing on Alpha Strike and Meditate)-I WAS IN ALPHA!

Flash is the best summoner for crit Master Yi. It allows you to escape if Highlander is down for example. Flash is just the best summoner spell in the game and you should use it 90%+ of your games. You can surprise your opponents by flashing into them and proceed to auto the carries, it's very effective because they will never expect it. Also, if they have a strong skill shot CC like Ahri's Charm or Xerath's Shocking Orb, flash can help you dodge it if you can't Alpha Strike. So if you want the safe option take this summoner you will never regret it!

Ghost is an interesting summoner and had always be an option when playing Master Yi and since patch 6.10, it's even better to take it. But when and why take ghost? You can take Ghost if the enemy team comp has both low CC/dash or very high amount of peeling so you can stick to them easier. It seems contradictory but flash won't dodge every spell! Ghost is a amazing initiation tool for Master Yi: pop your ghost reach them, and when you can auto attack them active Highlander and enjoy your(s) kill(s)!

Teleport is an OK summoner to use, you can powerfarm your jungle and counter gank from across the map. But you need great map awareness (as a jungler, you have no excuse to not be focus on your map). You can also splitpush and tp when your team get caught. However since the patch 6.13 Teleport isn't as interesting as before for Yi, because your opponents can just walk away from your tp. Also in a 1v1 scenario Teleport is totally useless (unless you're trying to escape with it).

Ignite is decent if they have a sustain monster such as Swain, Vladimir or Dr. Mundo. It works great when you invade because it allow you to kill faster the enemy jungler, but without this AND fervor of battle I still get the kill.

Exhaust is an useful summoner, but on crit Master Yi, you shouldn't take it a lot of times because, it's a situational summoner. You can take it against very strong jungler and/or lot of targeted burst such as Rengar or Katarina.

This is 4% AS vs 2% spell damage, and both choice are viable. Nevertheless having extra damage on Alpha Strike help you clearing faster (especially wolves, alpha often left them to 1 HP), with the 1K alpha damage late game (that can reset), 2% will do more than having 4% AS.

Here you can choose between Dealing 3% more damage and take 1.5% more or heal 20 for killing a unit(30 sec CD) or giving allies bonus damage. There is no really choice here, Feast is kind of useless with Master Yi because you have lifesteal and meditate anyway and Expose Weakness is useless in splitpush. Here Double Edged Sword is the best choice by far.

Here you can choose between 2% Lifesteal and Spellvamp or 10 AD and 15 AP at level 18. This build is based on a couple of stats: lifesteal, attack damage, and attack speed. So both choice are viable, but the lifesteal is a bit better since all you need in fight is survive in order to deal damage.

It's either 1% Damage per unique Champion killed or either 2.5% Extra Damage to CC Enemies . You do not have any CC in you kit, the only way to use Oppressor by yourself is Stalker's Blade/ Red Buff or to rely on your teammates. You can kill at least 3 different champ in the game so you should take Bounty Hunter .

It's 7% Armor penetration or 7% Magical penetration. You don't have
any sources of magic damage so, Battering Blows is the way to go.

MkayWhich keystone should I take?Mkay

K
E
Y
S
T
O
N
E

M
A
S
T
E
R
Y

Warlord's Bloodlust is a really good keystone for crit Master Yi. It gives nice amount of lifesteal (around 9% at mid health) and with The Bloodthirster you're going to out-sustain every champion in the game. Keep in mind that you'll be a bit weaker early (your invade will be a bit more difficult)

Deathfire Touch is amazing. Just kidding, never EVER go this one. Why the hell would you even take it, it would only proc on Alpha Strike and even here it would proc at half effect. Why are you even reading this? Go away!

Cunning Tree

Tier 1 : Wanderer / Savagery
You can choose between 3% movement speed out of combat and +5 on-hit damage on minions and monsters. Both masteries are viable, but your clear is already fast, so Wanderer is a nice choice since you are only going to take Boots of Speed.

Tier 3 : Merciless / Meditation Merciless gives 5% increased damage against champions below 40% health and Meditation Every 5 sec restore 1,5% of missing mana. You just don't need mana regen, and the jungle item gives you enough and Merciless gives you more damage and that's what you want.

Tier 4 : Bandit / Dangerous Game
You can choose between Gain 10 gold when hitting an enemy champion with a basic attack and Champion kills and assists restore 5% of missing health and 5% of missing mana.. In the jungle you can't benefit from Bandit . Dangerous Game is an amazing mastery in teamfight and even in splitpush.

ALTERNATIVE PAGE

If you start jungling or if you don't like cunning tree, here's a super safe option that you can take:

It's either +15 movement speed in river and brush or either reduce by 2 aa from monsters and champions. Explorer is ok but we want to stay alive in the early stage of the game, so we're taking Tough Skin because we want to reduce as much as we can monster's damage.

It's between Incoming health and shield are multiplied by 8% and +50 health. Both are great, Veteran's Scars gives you the early game power and at level 2 instead of 690,56 you will have 740,56 HP, but later in the game with Runic Armor you will have 8% increased lifesteal(+3.6% lifesteal late game) (and potentials shields), also it's not that bad early because it increase your pots and meditate. But I assume you want to be as safe as possible, so here I choose Veteran's Scars .

This is 15% CD on summoner spells vs 50% health regen up to 200% below 25% HP. Perseverance is kind of a low-tier mastery in my opinion, and 15% CD on summoner's spells is actually strong and you feel safer, because you can use your flash more often.

You want to max Alpha Strike as soon as possible, and Master Yi is known for this one. You can counter almost every spell in the game and you can also follow enemy dashes like Katarina's Shunpo, Lucian's Relentless Pursuit and even Flash.
At level 3 you take Alpha Strike and not Meditate because it allows you to clear faster (one-shotting raptors for exemple) and you don't really need the HP if you cleared well.
Then you max Wuju Style second, it gives you lot of true damage and the passive is a solid +10% of Master Yi's AD.
Of course you take Highlander as soon as you can, level 6, 11 and 16.

ABILITIES

After landing 3 aa's Master Yi next aa strikes twice for a total 150% of his AD. This passive fully applies on-hit effects twice and can crit too. It helps you get Alpha Strike back sooner, and because it can crit, it allows you to kill both squishies and tanks surprisingly fast.

Master Yi blinks to the target enemy, dealing physical damage to it and up to 3 nearby enemies. This ability is amazing, it allows you to gapclose, to disengage and the most important: dodging enemy spell (it should do at least). It can crit and aa's reduce its cooldown for 1 second.

Master Yi channels for up to 4 seconds, healing himself each second for an amount increased by 1% for every 1% of his missing health. During Meditate Master Yi gets 50-70% damage reduction. Meditate also resets your attack timer. This ability is great for the jungle sustain, and with the 50/70% damage reduction, it allows you to temporize during fights. But you need to know when your enemy is going to out-damage your Meditate. Channeling Meditate for the full duration is not always the thing to do.

Passive: Master Yi gains 10% AD as bonus attack damage while Wuju Style is not on cooldown. Active: Master Yi's aa deal bonus true damage for 5 seconds. Wuju Style is a great tool against tanky champions, and with 560 AD at level 18 you are going to deal 162.25 true damage per aa which is a incredible amount: around 811.25 TRUE damage in 4 auto attacks, ( Cho'Gath's Feast deals 1210 damage with 800 AP, and it has a 80 sec cooldown!). This will be a TRUE difference when fighting tanks.

Passive: Kills/assists reduce the current cooldown of Master Yi's basic abilities by 70%.Active: For 7 seconds, Master Yi gains bonus attack speed, multiplies his movement speed and becomes immune to all slow. While active, champion takedowns extend the duration of Highlander by 7 seconds. Note that your ultimate multiplies your movement speed, allowing Master Yi to go at a high amount of speed. Don't use this too early, with the recent nerf, you could kill your target 7.5 sec after activating it, and you won't get any resets. Notice that you are immune to ALL slows, including AS slow like Nunu's Ice Blast or Malphite's Ground Slam.

This is the best start in the jungle as Master Yi, it gives you lifesteal and great sustain with the Refillable Potion, and it refresh at fountain, making its gold value very high. You should sell it only when you need a slot.

This is the most common way to build as crit Master Yi. It allows you to gank way easier, to chase, to escape... It's a good CC with some damage that can help you burst a target or finish a low enemy. You can sell it when you need a slot and money

By getting Boots of Speed this early, you are going to get a high amount of movement speed (380) that helps you clear your whole jungle faster, roam easier and having a huge global pressure. Your ganks are better because you can chase down your oppenents and dodge their skillshots. If you can't get them at your first back then you should rush B. F. Sword if you have 1300 gold at your first back or going for the Pickaxe + Boots of Speed.

You want to take B. F. Sword as soon as you can, it gives you a lot of AD, increading Alpha Strike damage, Wuju Style on-hit effect etc. With the large amout of AS you should have (almost 1.0) you are going to clear really fast, and your ganks will hurt a lot too. If you have extra gold you can buy a Dagger, you are going to upgrade it later for a Phantom Dancer.

Pickaxe is the item to go after B. F. Sword, more AD with a nice AS (if you have one or two daggers), and it helps finishing your Infinity Edge. The reason of going Pickaxe and not Cloak of Agility is that crit is too random to rely on this early, and you need AS/AD, to benefit from critical strike too. So even if you have ~800 gold when you're at fountain, you better buy 2 Dagger and a Vision Ward.

Zeal is your next item, and at this point, you are going to hurt your opponents. It should be easy to build it since you bought one or more Dagger, and it increase your DPS by a large amount. You shouldn't expect to deal amazing damage, since you're criting 20% of the time and it's quite random, so don't go too deep in the enemy jungle or when diving.

Infinity Edge is your first big item. It gives you a large amount of AD, double your crit chance, and makes them hit harder. Your Alpha Strike damage is basically doubled and coupled with some auto attacks, you can probably shutdown any squishy faster than they can kill you. Even if your team is slightly behind, you can 1v1 anyone in the game, assuming you play right.

Phantom Dancer is an amazing item on Master Yi, giving you AS/Crit chance/MS. The passive is great for split-pushing, making you tank more while dealing your full amount of damage. You should have this item around 17-20 minutes and with Infinity Edge you are going to deal massive crit to anyone. You can invade the enemy jungler since you are better in a lot of match-ups in 1v1, but be aware of enemy laners: they can roam on you, and this deep in the jungle, you will probably die for nothing.

The Bloodthirster is your sustain item, giving you 20% of lifesteal, 75 AD and a passive shield (350 at level 18) that helps you split push. The 3-item powerspike is huge and with warlord's bloodlust, you should be able do duel every single champion in the game except for some like Vayne or Irelia. Soloing dragon won't be a problem with Stalker's Blade, you have 30% lifesteal vs monsters.

Statikk Shiv will give you a powerful burst, wave-clearing and a higher DPS with more reliable crit. If the enemy team comp have a decent amount of armor you will deal 3 types of damage: Physical damage due to your auto attacks and Alpha Strike, Magic damage due to Statikk Shiv and True Damage due to Wuju Style and Stalker's Blade.

Mercurial Scimitar is one of the best item of the game: 65 AD; 10% lifesteal; 35 MR; "Cleanse" on 90 sec cooldown. This item gives you a excellent duel potential with the lifesteal/magic resist (great against thornmail for example) and a "cleanse" (lots of split-pusher has only 1 hard CC). Since 6.9 patch Mercurial Scimitar has lost significant power, you can't remove Death Mark or Grand Challenge now. But it still a very power item that can remove ANY crowd control including knock-ups.

Lord Dominik's Regards is your final item and gives you two decent passives: the first one is BONUS armor penetration and +15% damage against enemy champion with more max health than you (500). The item is great against tanks and even tho it's a bit less powerful than The Black Cleaver, remember that this item cost 400g more and you have to fully stack before doing damage. You won't be able to stack it on squishy target such as ADC or APC and you need your ADC to attack the tank that you shredded armor to make the maximum use of the item.

It's true that Mercurial Scimitar isn't as useful as it can be if the enemy team do not have tons of CC. So here's a list of items you can/should take in this situation. Remember, the following list assume that enemy team has very low CC or that you take the risk to not have cleanse!

Maw of Malmortius is THE replacement of Mercurial Scimitar if they have AP without CC. It's super effective against AP burst like Katarina or LeBlanc and it's even better if they have a AP jungler such as Nidalee or Diana. The 10 AD loss is compensed by the 10 arpen which is nice against squishies but totally useless versus tanks. The +40 MR is great and combined to the passive shield, it will make you unkillable in one burst. The lifesteal grant is amazing during fights allowing you to turn to full life in a second.

Ravenous Hydra is a great option is the enemy team comp is full of AD without a hard CC. Giving you 75 AD, 12% lifesteal and an AoE damage, Ravenous Hydra is useful in teamfight, but useless during splitpush: Statikk Shiv will OS caster minions. The casting time of the item is reduced by AS, but the cleave damage apply your total AD and won't crit.

Blade of the Ruined King is another choice. If the enemy team comp is stacking lots of HP and armor the Blade of the Ruined King is fine because it allows you to kill them faster that you would with Mercurial Scimitar. The passive damage can't crit, but it's really underrated (on a 3500 HP target it would deal 210 physical BEFORE damage reduction). The active is super useful against mobility tanks (cough Yasuo cough Ekko cough) the damage is nice to survive and the stickness power is great. With Lord Dominik's Regards you will be able to shutdown any tank.

Essence Reaver is a super cost efficient item, giving you 100% crit chance and instant 30% CDR. At this point you have infinite mana and no CD on Highlander (52,5 with 0 kill; 45,5 with 1 kill; 38,5 with 2 kills; 31,5 with 3 kills; 24,5 with 4 kills; 17,5 with 5 kills OR assists.). The thing is you will loose 10% lifesteal and in this build you need this to survive. Still viable choice to buy.

You should buy Sterak's Gage for the same exact reason that you would buy malmortius, except that the burst is coming from an AD assassin such as Talon or Rengar. The only problem of this item is that the damage is kinda low AND it won't increase Wuju Style's true damage. Still a good option against a fed AD assassin.

Note: I won't say twice why I take x item if I already said it for Mercurial Scimitar but only add when it's good.

Essence Reaver against a full squishy composition is THE DREAM. 100% crit chance with 30% CDR and over 570 AD. You are basically unstoppable if they can't CC you. But even if there is only one tank, I would go for Lord Dominik's Regards.

Death's Dance is a viable choice against a full squishy comp and AP burst: The MR from Mercurial Scimitar will prevent from getting one-shotted and Death's Dance will absorb 15% of the burst. Of course it will help against AD burst but less with sustain AD damage. At level 18 with the ideal full build and runes you will have 84 armor (45.6% of dmg reduction) and 88 MR(46.8% dmg reduction) so you will reduce their damage by half and then Death's Dance passive will proc (example: ADC auto crit for 1000-> 45.6% reduction you will take 544 BUT-> DD passive= 15% of 544= 81.6 DoT on 3 sec= 27.2 every seconds. This mean that if you had 544 HP you won't die because you'll regen. The enemy have to overkill you). Passive also works with Alpha Strike healing you from 5% of damage dealt on each target. It's not the best item on Master Yi but viable.

The Black Cleaver is an item useful if you are a FULL AD team and you reach the late game. Against a full armor champ like Malphite you won't do as much damage as Lord Dominik's Regards but coupled with your AD mid and your ADC you will take down them faster. Also the phage passive helps you stick to your target especially if they havea high MS without dash, Sivir or Karma for example.

Your team is stupid (as usual) Guardian Angel is your divine savior. You can instant one target (most likely the ADC) and die and then spam your ping help and when you respawn with 700 HP you will clean-up the teamfight. The risk doing this is that your team can be afraid to go in 4v4 even if the enemy ADC is dead (or in Guardian Angel stasis too). So be sure they know what are you doing by telling them in chat.

Against a squishy AP oriented team Maw of Malmortius is great and the passive synergies well with Mercurial Scimitar, giving you a bigger shield since it scales with MR. The passive lifesteal is amazing, you will out-sustain every DPS when it triggers. Good buy against 0 tanks and a Veigar for example.

Blade of the Ruined King is a good option against 4 squishies and one tank with a very high number of HP. You gain even more lifesteal and attack speed making your Alpha Strike CD even shorter if you can hit something. It's a good item against tanks in general but the 25 AD from the item won't crit as hard as Lord Dominik's Regards.

Trinkets

The Warding Totem is useful in any situations, you can ward deep when you invade, check bush, having vision on objectives, and even ward for your laners. You can keep it the whole game and it will be always useful. But you need to remember to use it, you should place at least 10 wards a game.

Oracle Alteration is great for objectives pressure, it will makes you disable wards so you will be invisible in enemy's map. You can solo Drake or Nashor without any problems, they won't know until they hear that you slain it. It's also ok against stealth champion (like Vayne), you can see the direction they are going, but unless you have a pink ward, you won't be able to Alpha Strike or aa them.

Farsight Alteration is really useful when you are behind. You can check objectives without exposing yourself or ward deep in the enemy's jungle from a far. It's the less common choice on Master Yi but it still great for both aggressive or defensive warding.

So here we will be talking about match-ups: how to deal with a champion. It will be separated in 8 categories:

- What are his strengths.
- What are his most exploitable weaknesses.
- What's the best way to get a lead against him.
- What do you do if he is ahead.
- What are her power spikes and usual builds.
- What's her usual fighting pattern (When teamfigthing or splitpushing).
- Special tricks againt her.
- How does the champion fits in the meta.

The difficulties are separated in 3 categories:

- Ganking or Invading : I consider dashes, CC and burst (if he kills you as soon as you appear, hello Annie!)
- Dueling : If this champion try to stop you during splitpushing is he hard to kill (if it's a support I admit he is with an ADC)
- Teamfighting : How the champion can win the teamfight (mostly heavy AoE CC, and resets mechanics)
- Level of difficulty: Silver; Gold; Platinum; Challenjour

1. An unique hard CC : Charm
2. Great sustain via passive in lane, making her not easy to gank (and kill).
3. True damage with Orb of Deception that pass through master yi's meditate
4. Three dashes with Spirit Rush: you can't touch her
5. She can waveclear well = lot of roam

- Her weaknesses :

1. If her charm do not hit you she lost a lot of potential damage
2. True damage is not easy to land if she missed Charm
3. A fairly high CD ultimate at level 6 (110 sec)
4. Charm is easy to dodge with some practice

- How to get a lead :

As Master Yi, Ahri is a gankable lane before she hit 6. You can try to apply pressure middle if she wants to roam. By doing so you're forcing her to stay mid or losing tower. Ganking her when Spirit Rush is down is a good idea of course but you can also gank her when she has it, forcing her to «waste» it (she loose kill potential on bot/mid).

- If she is ahead :

You should farm the jungle and concentrate on side lanes objectives. Try to get fed againt her botlane (easy to get fed here), and get as much drake/tower as you can. You can outplay her by getting a Quicksilver Sash in a 1v1 splitpush scenario, even from behind.

She has a powerspike at 6 (like most of midlane champ), but she will shine during mid game as well as every mage. During mid game, you don't have any MR and that's where she will snowball even more. Avoid fighting her unless you are 100% sure to kill her within a second (aka being fed as hell).

- Teamfight/Splitpushing :

She is an assassin. Her teamfight pattern will be to catch a squishy target and blow him as fast as she can, then go back to safety (R in → E-W-Q → R out or Zhonya's Hourglass). Ask for your team to CC her as soon as she dashes in. She can also peel for her ADC and it's really effective imo, dealing tons of damage and charming any targets that are coming close to herself or her ADC. There you can try to burst her (flash if she dashes out / hit the closest target to get Alpha Strike back to dodge a potential and deadly CC) but it's not that safe (if you do not crit you will cry).

If she tries to stop you from split pushing you can surprise her by dodging Charm and flashing on her if she dashes out. I won't recommend to dive if she has Zhonya's Hourglass.

- Tricks :

You can dodge every of her abilities even W. Try to not use alpha for dodging charm but QSS it instead. By doing so, you will be able to follow one dash and auto attack once (pray for a crit)

You should use a meditate as a aa reset for maximum burst. You do not have a lot of damage reduction possibility here (except if you are diving)

You have to be more deceitful than nine foxes to beat her (you know she is a fox... with nine tails... so nine foxes... well I mean... ok). She is always good in every meta because of how more versatile she is. The more the meta will favor squishies and/or immobile champ mid and jungle, the more she will shine throughout the game.

You should invade most of your games if you want to get an early lead. It's really risky, I've warned you! Sometimes you won't be able to do it: against Graves / Shaco / Kindred / Zac / Volibear / Nidalee and versus high clear speed like Skarner or Shyvana it's kinda hard too because there's a little risk to be too late to take the buff, or more likely to happen, they'll be pretty high HP if he did ask for a great pull. But you can steal the buff and run away.
If you are planning to invade, you have to ask for a strong pull without smite, and if the support is a tanky type champion with Relic Shield such as Leona / Taric you can ask them to tank for you at least 2 hit. If they aren't tanky like Soraka or Karma, ask for tanking 1 hit.
When you cleared gromp or Lizard Elder (If they don't want to do smiteless red tell them that they can't loose any xp; don't tell them about the gold :) ), depending on side. Now run straight down the enemy buff. 2 options:

- First one you are at red buff bush and waiting for the Lizard Elder to be low enough and smite it (Red line in situation 2). Because you have Crest of Cinders you can try to kill your opponent. Watch the lanes!

- Second one you are at enemy's Blue Sentinel and you are coming from the river (Blue line in situation 2), you will probably be higher HP than the enemy, so take the buff (auto attack it if needed, the jungler will leave when he sees you), and sometimes they will try to fight you (kill them) or will go back (take the Greater Murk Wolf if you are safe). Then go back to your jungle and take the Rift Scuttler!

- Third option you started Lizard Elder and you want to go to the enemy's Blue Sentinel. You can go from the Greater Murk Wolf (Red line in situation 1, can be applied to bot side too!) and go for the buff+kill. Be aware that this path is not fast. You might arrive too late to the blue buff (rare thought).

If they are doing their buffs you have multiples options. First one you are at red buff bush and waiting for the Lizard Elder to be low enough and smite it (Red line in situation 2). Because you have Crest of Cinders you can try to kill your opponent. Watch the lanes!

Second one you are at enemy's Blue Sentinel and you are coming from the river (Blue line in situation 2), you will probably be higher HP than the enemy, so take the buff (auto attack it if needed, the jungler will leave when he sees you), and sometimes they will try to fight you (kill them) or will go back (take the Greater Murk Wolf if you are safe). Then go back to your jungle and take the Rift Scuttler!

Third option you started Lizard Elder and you want to go to the enemy's Blue Sentinel. You can go from the Greater Murk Wolf (Red line in situation 1, can be applied to bot side too!) and go for the buff+kill. Be aware that this path is not fast. You might arrive too late to the blue buff (rare thought).

If they are doing their Crimson Raptor because they skipped red, you can try to kill them first (can be easy if the mid don't roam) then you steal the camp. You can try to steal the buff if you are healthy. Otherwise go back to your jungle.

My paint skills are amazing! Usual jungle path when invading

If you are planning to farm, you can ask for a strong pull with 2/3 hit tanked if you have a Relic Shield support, but no need to ask if you have a squishy one. Then it's pretty much a standard jungle route, you will take every camps and back at the end. For Crimson Raptor's camp, hit the smalls one time and Alpha Strike, it will kill them. You can do a full clear even if you are low, dodge jungle mob's aa with Alpha Strike and take Meditate at level 3 if you are blue side, but take Alpha strike at 3 if you aren't. A gank top is possible if he is overextending/low but it's not needed to take that risk, and you can be counter-ganked. You should always smite Ancient Krug / Gromp and Lizard Elder. You can smite Crimson Raptor for the dewarding later in the game.